I was first licensed in 1964 as WN9MNF and in 1966 enlisted in the Navy for 4 years active duty and later extended my enlistment to 6 years for training as an electronics technician. I passed the Extra Class in 1968 while stationed on board the U.S.S Proteus (AS19) home-ported in Guam. While there, I operated the Ship's ham radio station KG6ALV which was located a short distance from the ship. In addition to handling phone patch traffic back to Pearl Harbor and the mainland in my off hours, I also enjoyed operating as a DX station. I was transferred to Long Beach, California and was discharged in 1971when they closed the unit.

I returned home to Chicago and eventually went to work for AT&T long Lines. It was a nice place to work but it was boring. I decided I needed a career change and joined the Chicago Police Department in 1972. During my law enforcement career I decided to join the Air Force Reserve at O'Hare International Airport. I worked there as a communications/navigation technician until 1996 when I retired. I retired from the Chicago P.D. in 1998 and worked for the local sheriff's department until 2008.

I'm retired now, living in Lombard, Illinois and enjoying it very much. I am involved as a volunteer in my community and of course have lots of time for ham radio. I live in an antenna restricted development so I have the following antennas in the attic: a coaxial trap dipole for 80 - 10m, 2 dual band antennas for vhf/uhf, a 6m ground plane and a 220 Hustler vertical. The dipole does remarkably well for an attic antenna and with it, as of 24 Feb 14, I have 142countries confirmed(LOTW & QSL cards), 145 countries worked and have earned a WAS (JT65) at this location.The 100th confirmation is a QSL card received from HL2DC (Lee) from South Korea.Thanks, Lee!!! I also passed the century mark for cw and digital modes and have the DXCC awards proudly displayed in my shack. Now I plan to focus on my favorite ham radio pastime-the old-fashioned rag-chew.

When I lived in Chicago I used a 40 foot Universal tower topped by a tri-band beam, a multi-element 2m beam and a pair of phased homebrew 11 element beams for uhf. Also had several dipoles in a sloper configuration. So, while my present antenna situation leaves something to be desired compared to my Chicago location, when the bands are decent I have no problem working lots of stations.

My HF rig is an Icom IC-746PRO which I use for hf.digital modes like jt-65, psk31 and sstv. I resurrected my Hallicrafters T.O. Keyer and getting back into the cw swing. I'm currently using the K8RA P4 iambic paddle with an old single lever Vibroplex paddle close by. An uncle who worked at Hallicrafters in Chicago gave me the Vibroplex paddle and the T.O. Keyer when I received my novice license.So it has been my constant companion over my 50 years as a ham radio operator. I almost forgot how much fun cw operation really is!!

I've also ventured into DStar and DMR (Moto-Trbo)C4FM and find all modes to be really interesting. What I really like about DStar is that with a DVAP and using my Iphone as a hotspot I can use either a DStar mobile or ht from any location within range of a cell tower and talk back to my area or anywhere in the world that has a DStar repeater. This combination works great while driving as well. I bought a Yaesu FTM-100 dual band transceiver and a Wires-X HRI-200 for C4FM System Fusion. I decided to get more involved in c4fm and bought the Yaesu FT-2DR. I really like the touch screen and the frequency flexibility that it offers and it was very easy to learn to use. A while ago I picked up a DVMEGA and a BlueStack Micro+ card and with BlueDV software running on an Android tablet with bluetooth I can work DMR, DStar and Fusion. I'v taken this combination on a road trip down South and it worked flawlessly on all modes while connected to my Iphone for internet service.

I enjoy my daughters, all my grandchildren and have a great xyl to keep me company and out of trouble. I've tried several different hobbies but I honestly feel that amateur radio is the greatest one of all. As of August 2014 I've been licensed for 50 years. WOW!!! TEMPUS FUGIT.

Just think...all done with an indoor attic coaxial trap dipole, good conditions (sometimes), lots of hard work, some luck and of course, a very patient XYL!!! Most contacts were made on cw and digital modes-cw with 100w and mostly jt65 with 20w.Also, a big THANK YOU goes to the many outstanding DX operators who are very patient and are willing to listen for the weak signals.